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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Another EncaustiCamp has come and gone. It was a gigantic effort on the part of many helpful hands but most of all of our leader, Trish Baldwin Seggebruch. Here we are at Daniel Smith's in Seattle at our book signing. The book is Encaustic Revelation and it is a compilation of the classes taught at camp in 2013. Each teacher wrote a chapter based on what they taught and all the proceeds of the book go toward a scholarship fund.

I'll show you some work from the monotype portion of my class in a moment.

You'll find plenty of this at EncaustiCamp. Friendship and inclusion.

Wonderful bonds being formed. Lots of laughter and learning.

On the field trip day we went to the Seattle studio of Willow Bader and were privileged to watch her paint.

She had a great studio set up unlike ones I'd seen previously.

Her big gorgeous space with brick walls and windows to the ceiling inspired all of us. You can't see the architectural features here because she's set up a protective wall for the wax splatters.

Standing behind me is one of the new teachers for 2015, Erin Keane. She's going to be a great addition to the staff. A book binder! And wax. She'll be greatly loved.

Dawn on the lawn yoga. Getting the kinks out before classes commence.

Demo time. See my new gray hair? I've joined the league of "silver is the new blonde".

Now I'll show you a sampling of monoprint work that came out of the classroom.

Tomorrow I'll show you some of the collographs that were created as well as the collograph plates.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

John got up on his tall fruit ladder to show you his jack in the beanstalk sunflower.

We did a big blueberry picking this cool, overcast morning before the sun came out.

Hauled in 17 more quarts to add to the 14 we already froze.

Here is the way John waters some plants.

We have a very fast draining soil so it he starts them in sunken areas inside pots with no bottoms, then he can pull out the pots at some point and have a depression that will hold water.

Sewed a coptic book block for my next journal.

Covered it with buckram, a book cloth that you can see through. So the stitching is visible through the spine cloth. But then painted front and back. This is the front.

This is the inside front.

This is the back.

Inside back.

I got out my photos from a trip a few years back to Spain and Portugal. Did some sketches from them.

Some of you know that I signed up for Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool. I love hanging out with sketchy friends from around the globe. Love looking at their work and admiring the variety and enthusiasm.

One conversation today was about how art school can really take the fun out of life.

Telling you to only make high art and not have the fun you had as a kid, just being carefree and enjoying the materials.

For me that was drawing in the spirit of the comic strips that came to the house every day in the newspaper.

Sundays were extra good. An entire newspaper of colored comic strips. I devoured them. And with my allowance I bought Katy Keene comic books. Brenda Starr and Katy Keene. They were my mates.

So for reasons I can't quite explain, Sketchbook Skool has freed me to do something that's playful and entirely fun; return to that mentality in my journal along with my morning pages.

It's just fun. No expectations, no rules, just playing with my art supplies in the quiet of my studio.

The best things happen when I let myself drift and be useless. I become serene and happy.

Monday morning I load up the van and return for the 4th year to teach at EncautiCamp. I look like I'm putting out a huge effort in my drawing but the truth is that this is when I come to life. Summer camp. July!! Seeing familiar faces and being an encouraging voice. Giving mi amiga Trish Seggebruch a huge hug. I'm counting the minutes.

So I think the take away from this week at Sketchbook Skool is this: That it's okay to enjoy what you're doing in art. To make beautiful things if you want or silly things or the stuff your professor said was junk. Amuse yourself to high heaven and don't let anyone step on your heart.

Worked on some monotypes in wax that I have to keep under my hat awhile longer. A gallery show in Sydney. Pretty exciting.

Just made my reservations to Bali this morning and ordered a mosquito net for my head. John came in and saw what I was doing and informed me that they'll probably have mosquito nets over the beds. Well. Don't blame me if I dont know what I'm doing. Dang mosquitoes aren't going to get me.

And some of my Sketchbook Skool friends drew portraits of me.

Yoga in 15 minutes so I gotta finish this up!!

Aren't those tomatoes cool?

Go forth and make the best of wherever you are in life and whatever hand you were dealt. You only get to be you once. xo

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Judy Wise is an Oregon artist and teacher who has worked as a printmaker and painter for four decades. She has exhibited and taught in the USA, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, Spain and the Netherlands.
Follow her on Instagram at judywiseart